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Honesdale is an absolutely lovely, charming town nestled in the middle of Wayne County, about 35 minutes northeast of Scranton via Route 6, and not far from Lake Wallenpaupack. For some photos of this community that I took this past Fall during a visit, please copy and paste the link below:
The community is part of the Wayne Highlands School District, to which I'm not familiar. Several other members live near Honesdale, so they'd be better sources to inquire about schools. Crime-wise, violent crime is unheard of in Honesdale. There is a drug problem in town, but that problem extends throughout much of NEPA (and probably the BosWash corridor), and other than an occasional DUI or someone being arrested for a drug-related offense, Honesdale's police blotter is silent. There is a Wal-Mart, KMart, and Home Depot within five minutes of town, but all of your other "big-box" shopping needs will require a drive to Scranton's Viewmont shopping district. The Main Street through town is absolutely charming, with restored Victorian homes, thriving small businesses, and occasional community festivals that draw thousands of tourists (We were in town last Fall for the wonderfully-executed harvest festival). Members "I LOVE PA" and Pensypat both live about 15 minutes away from Honesdale (whereas I'm 45 minutes away in Luzerne County), so they're probably better sources for all of the smaller details.
My daughter and I went shopping on Main Street in Honedale one evening right before Christmas. It was absolutely lovely!! Even though I have been there tons of times over the years, it felt like I was walking through a post card. There are some Honesdale pics somewhere on this site taken by Scranton/WilkesBarre. It is small town, and by the way, the birthplace of The American Railroad. There is a train station right in town that you can take a short ride. They have all kinds of themed train rides as the seasons change. I read the local papers and I never read anything bad about the Wayne Highlands scool district. If you do look up statistics (my pet peeve ) remember that while looking at percentage of students going on to college may be lower than other schools, this is attributed to the fact that a number of these kids come from farming or family owned business families, they are not going on to be Dr.'s and lawyers. The Hospital in Honedale, Wayne Memorial gives excellent care. They just recently added a state of the art emergency room addition to replace their previous one. Not far from the heart of Honesdale, yearly is The Wayne County fairgrounds. The Wayne County Fair is pretty big, and brings folks from miles around. Like Scranton/WilkesBarre said, there is not much there in the way of chain type stores, but really, Walmart is good in a pinch for the needed items and grocery shopping. There is a movie theatre in Honesdale, so you won't have to travel far for that. Scranton is really not that bad of a ride from there, and a scenic one at that!
I had searched up and down the East coast for 3 months traveling 2000 miles down to North Carolina scouting out small to medium size citys looking to relocate. Important to me was low crime, low taxes, large property, cheap homes and no illegals.
I first saw Honesdale on an A&E TV program which revisted a murder which took place almost 25 years ago in which some H.S. kid sought revenge on a fellow classmate that killed his Sister in a DWI accident. Keep in mind that Judge Conway heard the case. I saw the postcard pictures of this town in the documentary and felt I had to see if it truly was as pretty as a postcard.
Well after 1/2 an hour after driving through Honesdale, my Sister and I both said simultaneously "This is it"! It was a postcard! We researched for additional details on City-Data and soon were scrambling to find an experienced realtor. Believe it or not, in 2005, decent homes were hard to find here. My Sister finally bought a 100 year old farm house and I almost gave up after a 2 month search until I found an all brick Ranch located close to the High School in a nice neighborhood. It was an FSBO (For Sale by Owner). The owner showed me the house and I made a verbal offer in 2 hours later which was accepted. Boy, was I surprised to find the homeowner was the son of the Judge who heard the Honesdale murder case.
Is that scary or what?
So it has been 8 months since I moved in. It honestly doesn't feel like home yet as I lived in Jersey for 55 years. The people are friendly and the kids are civilized. The hub of Honesdale is the school system. There is non-stop activity on the school grounds which I love to see. There are lots of seniors here as it is also a great retirement community. The people here are very friendly. Crime is mostly DWIs and a couple of drug cases here and there. It is a far cry from a murder every other day in North Jersey.
There is plenty of snow which is fine with me as I have snow moving equipment. It is about 8 to 10 degrees cooler than North Jersey which makes hot summers more tolerable. A Walmart and a Home Depot opened a year or 2 ago which is all the conveniences I need. If you need a better paying job you have to travel to Scranton or N.Y. I don't, which is fortunate for me. I'll get a part time job later on to cover minor expenses and health insurance.
One thing I did not expect was how hard it was to purchase health insurance in PA. There are quite a number of States similar to PA in which you have to go through an underwriting process before you are accepted into a plan. There is no problem if you have an employer's insurance plan. I am in the tricky bracket of 55-65 years of age and have no employment yet as I am plenty busy doing remodeling of my own house. My friend who was 25 years old decades ago, could not get ANY health insurance in Utah as he had a pre-existing back problem. I had some pre-existing conditions which caused me to be rejected by Assurant but finally found a carrier that would accept me. The insurance is $200 a month cheaper than Jersey but I have a high deductible.
Car insurance is $200 a year less and house insurance is also about $200 a year less under the same carrier that I had in NJ.
What is really nice is that I have all the conveniences of a medium sized city yet I am only 60 seconds from the farms and animals. A real bonus. One negative is the restaurants. In NJ good food is easy to find. In NE PA, you need to search a while to find good quality. I have found 4 good restaurants.
The Walmart bakery does not "cut it" for me. I find I cook at home more often. Winters are slow here and long but the Spring and Summer make up for it. A 4 x4 truck is a necessity in Honesdale as it is very hilly and you would be up the creek in a heavy snow. Well, that is my story for now...it is almost time to plan my garden.
newjerseybt, I'm glad you like Honesdale, Pa.! Please shre with me the 4 restaurants that you like...Yes, food is definitely different. I am from L.I., and when you goet used to a variety of good restaurants, greek diners, and italian & german bakeries as well as delis, ...well you just don't find them here. A bakery you might try...there is a bakery in Hawley, a little past the Castle antiques place on the same side. I occassionally drive to National Bakery in Scranton to get fresh hard rolls, if anyone had told me 15 years ago that I would one day be driving 30 miles to get rolls I would have thought they were nuts!
Make sure you wander down towards Hamlin in the summer, there is a GREAT BBQ joint, Kundla's, ribs, chicken, fries (from real potoates!) salads all home made, ice cream and great corn on the cob. The meat is slow cooked on charcoal, it is really reasonable, they have outdoor seating to get the picnic experience and even have garden hoses to wash off! You don't want to miss this place...you'll add it to your list, I promise!
newjerseybt, I'm glad you like Honesdale, Pa.! Please shre with me the 4 restaurants that you like...Yes, food is definitely different. I am from L.I., and when you goet used to a variety of good restaurants, greek diners, and italian & german bakeries as well as delis, ...well you just don't find them here. A bakery you might try...there is a bakery in Hawley, a little past the Castle antiques place on the same side. I occassionally drive to National Bakery in Scranton to get fresh hard rolls, if anyone had told me 15 years ago that I would one day be driving 30 miles to get rolls I would have thought they were nuts!
Make sure you wander down towards Hamlin in the summer, there is a GREAT BBQ joint, Kundla's, ribs, chicken, fries (from real potoates!) salads all home made, ice cream and great corn on the cob. The meat is slow cooked on charcoal, it is really reasonable, they have outdoor seating to get the picnic experience and even have garden hoses to wash off! You don't want to miss this place...you'll add it to your list, I promise!
Hello ILOVEPA!
I tried that bakery in Hawley. Call me fussy, but I have the fattest squirrels in Honesdale. Most of the Walmart baked goods also got tossed. Walmart's "improved" bagels also got the heave-ho.
I have spent a small fortune in restaurants in my lifetime so I know high quality. Ruth's Chris is very high quality as they serve aged beef but don't expect that in Honesdale. The best prime rib is at Tick Tocks located by the high school although the locals recommended the Red Schoolhouse
located 12 miles down the road in Bethany. I tried the Red Schoolhouse steak but rated it a 7.5 as opposed to Ruth's Chris which is a 10 IMO. The Tick Tocks prime rib I rate from an 8, to a 8.5. Their NY strips do not rate as well.
For Italian I recommend the Elegante' on Main Street. The pizza rates an 8.5 and the pasta dishes are cooked fresh if you order a meal with pasta. As a side dish, you get the pasta from the community pot which I rate a 7.5.
The fresh pasta is cooked perfectly! I hate mushy pasta. The other Italian dishes are good with an 8.0 to 8.2 rating. They also serve wine and beer.
For German, I recommend the Alpine Wurst on Route 6 in Honesdale. The food rates from an 8.0 to a 9.0. I was disappointed in one of the 4 table breads they served, as it was a bit dry. They have a great deli adjacent to the restaurant. Highly recommended. You can get some of the NY style
meats there. Not cheap...but very good. I went on a Thursday afternoon at which time they served a buffet. I liked 98% of what they served. Also great German beer!
For breakfast, you might want to try "Beans" which just opened a month ago.
Which is located on RT 6 East about 200 yards from Wayne Memorial Hospital. I was forgiving on the slow service as they do not have their waitresses "fine tuned" yet. The quality of the coffee is above average and the atmosphere is similar to a Starbucks. Cozy. I had dinner there about a week ago and rated their Pea soup a 9.0 which had generous pieces of fresh ham.
I have yet to try the Settler's Inn and Erhardts Waterfront. Kundlas is also on the list.
For ice cream I recommend the Ice Cream Cottage located on Fair Ave just off of 191 North just outside of the city. The Gravity house ice cream in town just does not have enough fat in it. I saw an ice cream place 2 miles down the road from Schaeffers Hardware in Hamlin. It was rated #1 in some local paper. That is my next adventure.
For pies, I like Ritters just 4 miles down the road from Schaeffers. Today I bought a caramel, nut, apple pie. It was hot out of the oven! I rate it a 9.8 as the crust was perfect and the ingredients fresh.
If you ever are in Morristown NJ, you have to visit Arthurs on Route 202 South. If you like aged beef at half the price of Rut's Chris, you can't pass this place up. I would rate the delmonicos at a 9.5.
As you can see, no one restaurant makes everything great so you have to plan your meal and then drive here and there.
I drove up and down every street in Scranton 2 Sundays ago scoping out the restaurants. I would like some recomendations if anyone has any. I like a mix of all etnicities. I'll try anything from Thai to Indian. When I was in Australia in 1988, I found a restaurant that served Sherpa cuisine. I thought they only served at the base of Mt. Everest!
Great post...I too am a foodie and there are two restaurants in Hawley that deserve recognition: Torte Knox (across the street from the Hawley Diner) and the Settler's Inn, which you mention above but have yet to try. Definitely hit up both. Especially Torte Knox, since they close seasonally. I think they just reopened at the end of March. Very inventive food.
Location: Rural PA, where we are apparently bitter and cling to spirits and artillery. Well, we ARE gun owners
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A great place to eat with good food, and is a personal family favorite is the Cuckoos Nest off of 590. It's kind of a long, windy drive from Hawley, but worth it.
Location: Rural PA, where we are apparently bitter and cling to spirits and artillery. Well, we ARE gun owners
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 9hop
Can anyone give me info about honesdale,schools/crime etc?
I remember once the high school was shaken down to look for contraband/etc. using dogs and they didn't so much as find one cigarette in the entire school.
Honesdale is a great place. I grew up in Waymart area and Shohola Area. I see someone from Lake Ariel. I remember when Patty Hurst was hidding out in the early 70's, She was in South Cannan.... Went to Elementry School a few blocks away from her hide out.
I see someone has been to Australia.... Me too, twice. 27 countries in all, US Navy Retired.
A good read of the history of the area can be found starting with this.
It really is a small world.... I lived in San Diego for 13 years and just before I left I found out my neighbors Wife went to Honesdale High School....
Finally back home.
AL
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Members "I LOVE PA" and Pensypat both live about 15 minutes away from Honesdale (whereas I'm 45 minutes away in Luzerne County), so they're probably better sources for all of the smaller details.
Honesdale
The other Italian dishes are good with an 8.0 to 8.2 rating. They also serve wine and beer.
